


OFF Drabbles

by Mere_Vanilla



Category: OFF (Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Human, Character Study, Drabble, Drabble Collection, Female Character of Color, Fluff, Gen, Male Character of Color, Multi, Named Elsen, Polyamory, References to illness in chapter 8, Use of Singular They in Chapter 7
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-17
Updated: 2015-05-11
Packaged: 2018-03-13 10:11:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 1,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3377648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mere_Vanilla/pseuds/Mere_Vanilla
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One hundred words per character in OFF, if they were human.<br/>Dedan dreams of peace, Zacharie and Sugar run a cafe, The Batter tries to be there for his unconventional family; Eloha loves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

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There is a reclining feature to Dedan's home office chair. It's a slow day, one that's all ready over, and he has just remembered this aspect of his furniture. No screaming, neither from him nor his employees, has happened today. So Dedan pulls the lever at the side of his chair, and finds himself at a comfortable, gentle slope of a position. He pulls his work blazer off from the arm of the overstuffed chair, laying it over himself like a blanket. He could go to bed, but the recliner is too comfortable. Soon, he is asleep, dreaming of peace.

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	2. Chapter 2

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Zacharie leans forward on the counter top. He hears his sister in the back of the building, trying to fold chilled butter into a dry scone mix for today. He's only owned the cafe for a month, but he can't help but see himself blessed—even with the cough he caught from Sugar's toddler dance class coming in last Saturday. Zacharie readjusts the cotton mask that hides the last third of his face from view, coughing. “Sounds like you've got a frog in your throat, Zacharie!” Sugar calls from the kitchen. Zacharie laughs thrice before clearing his throat once again.  
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	3. Chapter 3

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She is called “The Queen” at work, but only by the ones she is least closest to. Even then, it's a nickname she's not quite sure she wants. Eloha whispers to herself when she knows no one is there, and even when she thinks someone's there, her own name is capsized into her mind, especially when one of her employees stutters out the nickname before correcting themselves with her job title. When her heart beats fastest, though, is when she is called Queen Eloha by her dearest partner and his boyfriend. She is Queen, and they her beloved, cherished consorts.  
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	4. Chapter 4

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Sometimes he looks at his family, and his awe overwhelms him. It used to be, that baseball was most important, and he was guided by an invisible force to pursue being the best. That invisible force was, he now knew, his own insecurity and self-consciousness infecting his life. He batted a thousand in the field, but forgot to send so much as a card to his family that year. He'd only just glanced at the comic he'd sent back for Hugo's birthday. Now, though, he stayed at home, nursing a love for his wife, his partner and his newborn son.   
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	5. Chapter 5

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Sugar is dancing, the movement spilling from her heart and expressed in her limbs like her namesake from a paper bag. She moves from first ballet position, to another completely different position from a separate style of dance in few movements. With a whirl, Sugar is holding herself en point to the music in her head. Despite teaching dance, she still loves improv movements in her down time. She sweeps a leg out in a semi-circle, then jumps into a strong series of leaps that lead her halfway down stage. She spins back, heart singing with the energy flowing out.  
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	6. Chapter 6

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“I'll eat you up, I love you so!”  
Japhet shushes the two boys in his library, holding one child's gaze longer than that of his sibling's. The one he's shushing all ready has a book in hand and is holding it up to the other boy's face. “Where The Wild Things Are” juts out in relief typeface, visible even to Japhet's bifocal-ensconced face. The other sibling, the one presented with the book, makes a wide, toothy grin, then nods. The more quiet boy walks up to the check-out desk. “Uncle Japhet? Can I get this?”   
Japhet smiles. “Of course, Valerie.”   
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	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter deals specifically with depression and anxiety, as well as seeing a counselor. Additionally, there is a mention of food/dessert. Please feel free to skip this chapter if you want to.

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Fear is easy. Fear is ... _familiar_. But fear, as the counselor had explained, can also be _exhausting_. They knew that, in a round-about sort of way, that fear took a lot out of them. They went to bed full of sleep that was the sort that kept them up at night, jerking awake from a less-than-pleasant dream. So, they talked with the counselor, who spoke to them in soothing tones, about their options, and showed them a video of how sometimes, fear— _anxiety_ , and _depression_ —can go together like sugar in dessert. Elle thanks the counselor, making a follow-up appointment.

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	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter deals with brief discussion of (non-specific) illness, as well as mentions of implied hospitalization. Please feel free to skip this chapter if that is not your thing.

\------------  
Hugo is breathing, even and free, as he wakes up from a dream. Well, nightmare, really, about his doctors and family being defeated by white shards of illness. He blinks his eyes open, looking around the room. His father and the man from the coffee store are sitting on either side of his mother, all of them dozing off in their chairs and leaning on each other. Soon, he is joined by the doctors and the rest of his family. The doctors wave, and Hugo and his family are leaving the hospital. The sun rises, bathing the world in light.  
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	9. Chapter 9

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PurifiedSpaceApe wrote: OMG but guys guys think about it like this: what if OFF is just BATTER'S dream, NOT Hugo's?  
Secretary_Of_Zone_1 wrote: LOL PurifiedSpaceApes at it again spin us another yarn bro!  
Youhavediedofdissinzone3secretary wrote: purified lets hear it.  
Zone-Two's-Wrasslin'-Secretary wrote: C'mon PurifiedSpaceApe i wanna KNOWWWW *claps hands excitedly*  
PurifiedSpaceApe wrote: It totally SEEMS like a perfect analogue to a kid's dream, right? Scary teeth man who just needs a break, talkin birds, the works? But it's ALL BATTER'S SUBCONSCIOUS fear as an adult!   
FloatingBrainFromOuterSpace (moderator) wrote: PurifiedSpaceApe, great theory, but wrong forum spot. I'm moving it to “DISCUSSION OF SPOILERS”.  
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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was the only way I could think to incorporate the secretaries, the space apes, and the flying brains. As far as I know, none of the usernames present in this chapter are in use at the moment. They are free to a good home.


	10. Chapter 10

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Valerie curls up with the book he'd checked out from the library. Even though he's read it once through, he still likes to look at the pictures. Max is brave, like Valerie's brother Pablo, and talks to new people without worry. Valerie sighs the sigh of a shy eleven-year-old. Valerie regards the images on the pages, following along as Max confronts family, foes, and friends, eventually rejoining his original home. The young boy snuggles deeper into the window seat in his room. _Perhaps, maybe... I could be that brave, too,_ Valerie wonders. He nods. _I'll start small, and build up._  
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	11. Chapter 11

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Life is full of adventure! Pablo had to agree: there was no better experience than _adventure_. Whether it involved visiting his uncles with his brother Valerie, or being baby-sat... er, _looked after_ by the man in the coffee store, the eleven-year-old couldn't help being excited by life. Pablo _hummed_ with all the possibility of today. He'd _have_ to take Valerie along with him, after his brother was done with his nap. Pablo looked over at Valerie, asleep on the blue sheets of the bunk bed. Pablo yawned, climbing to his top bunk's clean yellow bedclothes. Nap-time, now; brotherly adventures later.  
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	12. Chapter 12

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Enoch is _exhausted_. However, it's worth it. He's catering the ceremony of his friends, one of whom works at a small bakery, another of whom he used to watch on television, making runs around the diamond; the third, well. The third he worked for. “The Queen” runs many branches of companies, one to which Enoch is employed. He checks the list on the giant refrigerator against the contents of said refrigerator. Enoch is pleased; everything adds up. He and several of his subordinates will be taking the train tomorrow-green line, with its kind conductors. Enoch sighs, calling it a night.  
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	13. Chapter 13

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They meet for the first time when called for a cold reading of the script. They are called by their character's name, rather than what's on their birth certificate, or what they'd chosen for themselves, much later on in life. It's a big deal, to have earned these roles; _Boxxer, Daisy, and Ballman_ took the world by storm just over fourteen months ago. The three of them hope together that it's one of many live-action films they work on together. The make-up artists, cooing, complement their beautiful black skin. The press asks why they're always together. Smiling, they just shrug.   
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End file.
